Your donation to Oli McCann's Walk the Wall Challenge
Oli McCann, along with 3 friends, will be taking on a 6 day challenge to walk across England, from Bowness on Solway to Wallsend along the historical Hadrian’s Wall in aid of Napthens Foundation and Blackburn Youth Zone.
They will be walking 90 miles across 6 days, achieving a total elevation 300 meters by Day 3. The walk commences on Monday 9 May and finishes on Saturday 14 May, with the following stages:
- Bowness on Solway to Carlisle – 17 miles, elevation of 29m;
- Carlisle to Walton – 12 miles, elevation of 55m
- Walton to Twice Brewed Inn – 19miles, elevation of 216m
- Hexham to Chollelford – 14miles, decline of 189m
- Cholleford to Heddon – 15miles, elevation of 15m
- Heddon to Wallsend – 15miles, decline of 95m.
Napthens Foundation aims to raise £15,000 in its first year with the charitable aim of raising funds to provide relief and support to those in need by reason of education, youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage.
One of the beneficiaries of support from Napthens Foundation is Blackburn Youth Zone and Oli specifically wants 50% of funds raised to be donated to the Youth Zone Darwen project, an outreach programme which requires £250,000 worth of funding. Darwen badly needs this outreach programme to provide much needed support and opportunity to the young people of Darwen. Blackburn Youth Zone has had a significant impact on young people in Blackburn, but it’s too far for many young people in Darwen to access the services – so the hub and spoke model will ensure that the Youth programmes can be delivered in Darwen. The new Youth Zone Darwen scheme is a chance to create something fantastic in the town – somewhere youngsters can go to socialise and have fun but also somewhere where they can learn new skills and be inspired to reach their full potential. You can read more about the plans for Youth Zone Darwen here - https://theshuttle.org.uk/250k-fundraising-drive-for-new-darwen-youth-zone/
The remaining 50% of funds raised will be allocated to Napthens Foundation other charitable causes based on need. One current project being supported by these fundraising efforts, is My Happy Mind, an award winning, ‘profit with purpose’ organisation, who support primary schools on mental health through preventative strategies that give children the skills and tools to thrive. The benefits to the schools and the children themselves is clear - results to date show a 43% decrease in mental health referrals to the NHS for those schools where the My Happy Mind programme is in place. You can read more about them here: https://myhappymind.org. By our fundraising efforts, we aim to support five local schools take advantage of the My Happy Mind programme.
"My friends and I have talked about this for a few years and wanted to do this to raise funds for different charities" said Oli. "For me, the opportunity to walk across Northern England along this historical wall dating back to AD122 with its wonderful scenery, whilst challenging myself physically (and probably mentally) but in good company with 3 friends will be a wonderful, but challenging experience and one that I hope raises much needed funds for my chosen causes. It’s not usually the distance that gets you, but the wear and tear – blisters on the feet, shin muscles, ankles, knees etc as the week goes on. But I know it will be worth it!”
Good luck to you all!